


New Recruits

by violasarecool



Series: What Can 8 Grey Wardens Do? [16]
Category: Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening
Genre: First Meetings, Gen, Vigil's Keep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-10
Updated: 2016-07-10
Packaged: 2018-07-22 19:11:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7450741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/violasarecool/pseuds/violasarecool
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>quentin and the others come back to the keep only to find more wardens waiting for them. or is it potential wardens? they're getting mixed messages.</p>
            </blockquote>





	New Recruits

It was early afternoon, and a light breeze ruffled Quentin's robes as they walked back towards Vigil's Keep. After the long battle the previous day, it was nice to just take a walk through the surrounding countryside, getting familiar with the area in preparation for future patrols. Quentin glanced over at Zevran, who raised his eyebrows; Quentin smiled, his gaze flicking over to Fox before looking back ahead. They'd started off as a large group as they left the keep that afternoon, but quickly split off as they walked, leaving just Quentin, Fox, and Zevran to walk the dirt road back. 

However, as Quentin watched a soldier approaching them just ahead of the Keep's outer walls, he felt a pang of anxiety tighten his chest. Was it just a message, or something serious? He sped up to meet them. Hopefully the other group wasn't too far behind.

The soldier stopped just ahead of them, gave Quentin a quick salute. "Warden-Commander, ser. There are some people here to see you. They claim to be Grey Wardens."

"What?" The tightness in his chest loosened somewhat, and he glanced at Fox. "How many Wardens did Orlais _send?"_

"Just us, and the ones who went missing," Fox said.

"Perhaps they have turned up again," Zevran said, and Fox shrugged.

"Huh. Alright, take me to them," Quentin said.

They ascended the steps, and the soldier lead them through the wooden door into the keep. To one side of the room stood a tall woman and two dwarves, none of whom he had ever seen before. He glanced at Fox, who shook his head. Not the Orlesian Wardens, then. A mabari stood next to the woman, and it barked as they entered, tail wagging. _Good thing Cerberus is with Alistair._ The furthest dwarf looked up at the noise, their expression half-shielded by their short lavender hair, a dark tattoo on one cheek— _no, a casteless brand,_ he thought, images of the crowded streets of dust town coming to mind. The casteless dwarf tapped their dwarven companion, who turned around, forcing the first dwarf to duck as her long ponytail came close to hitting the other in the face. Quentin suppressed a smile.

"I'm told you wanted to speak with me," Quentin said. "I don't think we've met; I'm Quentin, the, uh, Commander of the Grey." The title still felt strange in his mouth.

"I'm Dwinna," the dwarf with the dangerously long ponytail said, "and this is Ketkoni and Talia." She pointed to the other dwarf and human respectively. "We want to join the Grey Wardens."

"Join us?" Quentin looked at Fox, then back to them. "I was told you _were_ Grey Wardens."

"Uh," Dwinna glanced at Talia, "kind of. It's complicated. We  _were_ recruited by Duncan."

"That was the man who recruited you, yes?" Zevran murmured, and Quentin nodded, eyebrows furrowed.

"How long ago was this?"

"About a year," Talia said. "We got separated in the fighting at Highever, I was injured. By the time we started out again, all we had to go on was sightings from other cities." She looked around the room, glancing over Cera, and Mistress Woolsey. "They said that only two Grey Wardens made it out alive. Did Duncan...?"

Quentin shook his head. "He died at Ostagar."

"Ah." Talia glanced at Dwinna. "That's unfortunate." The dwarf gave her a sad smile, and Talia shrugged, the movement drawing Quentin's eye to her left arm, and the stump that ended just above where her wrist would have been. From battle, maybe; though if the other recruits at his own Joining were any indication of the kind of people who became Grey Wardens, it could easily be a token of Ferelden's wildly variable law system.

Quentin nodded vaguely at Talia, trying to remember what they were talking about. _Oh. Ostagar._ "Alistair was the other survivor," he said, "he should be back soon with the others."

"Other Grey Wardens?" Dwinna asked.

Quentin nodded. "Yeah. There's a few from Orlais to help us rebuild, like Fox," he said, gesturing to him. Fox nodded at them. "And we've recruited a couple more since then—"

The door to the keep slammed open. "No way, kid, it'd be over in minutes."

"That's what you think."

Oghren strode into the room, closely followed by Kit. "You'd drink one mug and poof! Out like a light," he said. He looked to the side, noticing them for the first time. "Quentin, your turn to babysit."

"I'm not a _baby,"_ Kit said, their short hair falling over their face as they crossed their arms.

Alistair entered the room behind them, his expression torn between amusement and disapproval. "Hey, you're back," he said to Quentin.

"And you are late to what promises to be quite the gathering," Zevran said, eyebrows raised.

"Hm?" Alistair said, glancing around as he noticed the new faces for the first time. Then Cerberus pushed past him into the room, and he was forced to step out of the way.

"Oh no," Talia said, grabbing at her dog's collar as it spotted Cerberus and began to growl. Cerberus's ears pricked up, and he gave a joyful bark, trotting over to the other dog.

"Cerberus, heel," Quentin said sternly. Cerberus whined, and Ori barked at him, straining against his collar to sniff at Cerberus. "Cerberus." The dog huffed at him, but came back to sit at Quentin's feet.

"Sit," Talia said, pushing Ori's rear to the ground, her rust-coloured hair falling around her face as she stared her dog down. Alistair stifled a laugh. "He's not very well-behaved," she said giving one final look before straightening.

Quentin smiled. "It's ok." He turned to Alistair. "Where's Merle and Anders?

"They're on their way," Alistair said. "Last I saw, Anders was trying to get Merle to light a brazier with a fireball. I thought fighting the Archdemon was hard, but herding this lot is going to be a nightmare."

Quentin laughed. "If you still want to go looking for more recruits, you won't have to."

"Speaking of recruits," Oghren said, looking Dwinna and Ketkoni up and down, "I don't suppose you lovely ladies are looking to help us kick some darkspawn ass?" His mouth curled into what he probably intended as a roguish smile, but came off more like he was peering into a mirror to get kale out of his teeth. "Name's Oghren."

Ketkoni smiled sweetly. "My name's Ketkoni, and this is Dwinna, _my girlfriend."_

"Blast, always the good-looking ones," Oghren said.

Talia snorted.

"We'll have to do another round of introductions when Anders and Merle get back," Quentin said, "but for now... Current Grey Wardens, meet future recruits Dwinna, Ketkoni, and Talia. Future recruits, uh, I guess Oghren and Fox have already been introduced, but this is Zevran, Alistair, and Kit."

"Hello," Kit said.

Zevran bowed. "A pleasure to make your acquaintances." 

Meanwhile, Alistair was staring at Talia, as if trying to puzzle her out. "Talia Cousland?"

She nodded. "That's right."

"I thought Fergus was the only one of your family who survived," he said, surprised.

"He wasn't," Talia said dryly.

"Sorry," Alistair said hastily, "I just, didn't realize. I'm sorry for your loss."

"Thank you."

There was a brief uncomfortable silence. Then, Oghren grunted, staring at Dwinna. "You know, you look sort of familiar."

Dwinna's face hardened, her thick brows dangerously low. "Do I?"

"Yeah. Know what, you look a lot like one of them Aeducans."

"Aeducan?" Quentin glanced at Oghren. "Wasn't that the family name of the King who died? In Orzammar?"

"S'right." He frowned. "Didn't think the Aeducans had a daughter, though."

Dwinna crossed her arms. "Well, they do."

Oghren held up his arms defensively. "Alright, my bad."

Ketkoni glanced at Dwinna, then around the rest of the group. "Well, anyone recognize me from anywhere?" they asked, grinning. "No one? Aw that's just too bad."

"That's how it goes when you're not a fancy schmancy _noble,_ " Oghren scoffed.

Ketkoni crossed their arms. "Yeah? So what were you, smith caste?"

"What? No!" Oghren sputtered, "I'm a Warrior, dammit! Well, was, anyway. Been on the surface a while, doubt they'll be taking me back any time soon."

"So have we," Dwinna said. "So we're all in the same ' _caste'_ now: Surfacer." She pronounced the last word with surprising relish, and Ketkoni gave her a look that almost seemed _proud._

"Yup," Oghren said with a shrug.

Behind him, the door to the keep opened once more, and Merle walked in. "Uh," they stopped in the doorway, immediately noticing the extra people. "Have we already—" Then Anders walked into them, and they quickly stepped out of the way.

"Oops, sorry," Anders laughed, "I was distracted." There was a mewling sound, and he looked down at the bundle of ginger fur in his arms. "Who's an adorable kitty?" he crooned.

Ori gave a loud bark. "Ori!" Talia exclaimed, grabbing for his collar, but he ran out of reach, skidding to a stop in front of Anders.

"Uh oh," Anders said, stepping back as Ori jumped up at him, barking enthusiastically. Meanwhile, Cerberus circled round his back, and Anders nearly stepped on him as he attempted to get out of the way.

"Should I...?" Anders glanced at the door, holding the frantically squirming kitten high above his head.

"I'll take Ori outside," Talia said, grabbing for her dog. "Ori, come!"

Quentin sighed, looking down at Cerberus. "Heel," he said firmly, and Cerberus made a huffing sound.

"I can take him," Alistair said to Quentin.

"Thanks," Quentin said, relieved. "Where did you even get a cat?" he asked Anders, as Talia dragged Ori out the door, followed by Alistair and a drooping Cerberus.

"We found him in the courtyard," Anders said, cuddling the kitten close to his chest.

"It's not a good idea," Merle warned him, arms crossed.

"I know," Anders sighed. "But I couldn't just leave him there, he might have gotten eaten by darkspawn! Or a mabari," he said, glancing at the door.

"We'll find a good home for him," Quentin said, smiling. "For now, just keep him away from the dogs."

"You don't have to tell me _that_ twice," Anders said. He smoothed down the fur on the top of the kitten's head. "Don't worry, Ser Pounce-a-lot, I'll protect you."

_Ser Pounce-a-lot?_ Merle suppressed a smirk. _Queue comment from Kit in 3... 2..._ They glanced around, but Kit was nowhere to be found. _Where have they gone now?_

As if on cue, a side door slammed open at the other end of the room, and Kit appeared, wearing a blue and grey uniform which surprisingly seemed to fit their small frame. "Holy shit you guys," they exclaimed, and the others turned toward them. "There's uniforms? And armour??" They pulled out a long dagger. "Also a bunch of weapons."

Behind them, Seneschal Varel appeared from out of a side room. He gave Quentin a concerned look. "Did you give them the key to the armoury?"

Quentin shook his head, glancing at Kit, who held up a small rusty key sheepishly.

Merle rubbed a hand down their face. "That's my key, isn't it," they said.

"Yeaah," Kit said, "but we were going to go in there eventually anyway, right?"

"Eventually, yes," Merle said, rolling their eyes. "Did you lock the door behind you?"

Kit shook their head. "No."

"Ok. Go put all of that back for now, _lock the door,_ then come back. We have other things to take care of before we look at uniforms, including a Joining." They glanced back at Quentin. "Uh... Forgive me," they said stiffly, "I'm used to the chain of command in Orlais. It's your decision, of course."

Quentin smiled. "It's fine, that sounds good." He turned to Talia, Dwinna, and Ketkoni. "If Duncan invited you to join the Grey Wardens, then I trust his judgement. I'd like you to be sure, though. Joining the Grey Wardens is for life; once you've been through the Joining, there's no going back."

"We're sure," Ketkoni said; Dwinna and Talia nodded.

"Okay," Quentin said. "Then I officially accept you into the Grey Wardens."

"Again," Ketkoni murmured, and Dwinna smothered a laugh.


End file.
